Recognizing good customer service

Recently, Stuart and I were flying home from the east coast when we experienced a flight delay with US Airways. After being delayed over three hours past our scheduled departure time, he arranged for us to get another flight home on United Airlines. There was a huge error made in the process on the part of US Airways which I won’t go into here, but it was preventing us from checking in with United.

After several phone calls between us and US Airways and United to US Airways, the Premier ticket counter agent took it upon herself to step in and resolve the issue. She did this despite the fact that the responsibility for this was on US Airways. She took several minutes out of her very busy day to ensure that our needs were met. Unfortunately, this second flight was delayed as well and we finally arrived home about 8 hours after our original flight should have gotten back to Phoenix.

The point is, the United agent went above and beyond the call of duty. Or was she simply doing her job to the best of her ability? Either way, the service she provided deserved recognition. Stuart sent an email to United Airlines and commended her for the assistance she provided us that day. As a result, we received a response thanking us for letting them know and a promise that the agent would receive recognition by airport management as well as airlines management.

You’ve all heard that when customers are happy, they tell no one. But when they are unhappy with a service, they tell everyone. That is overstated a bit but we do tend to just accept good service at face value and complain to others about poor service we have received. While I feel every worker should always strive to delight their customers, it doesn’t always happen. By taking the time to recognize good service we are helping to perpetuate it. Companies like United Airlines who pass along this recognition foster their employees to strive for excellence and therefore, recognition. Plus, you might be surprised to receive a little something extra. Fortunately for us, the airline awarded each of us 5,000 additional frequent flier miles. We didn’t ask for that, they just gave it to us for our troubles. Thanks United!

If you or your employees need customer service training or you need help with a recognition program, contact us today at Stuart Selbst Consulting. We are at your service. (480)389-5481.